The emerging and expanding green economy has the potential to create not just jobs, but career opportunities across the United States as green manufacturing, green products, and green services fuel demand for workers at all skill levels. Community colleges are leading the way in defining and addressing these opportunities. They are: developing…

The nation's 1,200 community colleges are well positioned to strengthen the workforce of one of America's most critical sectors--health care. They can provide training and credentialing for incumbent workers in health care and to prepare new workers to succeed in and meet the workforce demands for this sector--expanding individual opportunity and…

Cocurricular events are capable of providing rich learning opportunities for students. However, as the film and speaker sequence described in this article demonstrates, all too often they fail to reach their potential. In order to teach lessons and enhance skills related to civic responsibility, these events must be designed with a purposeful…

Community colleges are uniquely charged with providing postsecondary educational opportunities to students who are generally the least prepared to receive them (Rosenbaum, 2007). To increase access and success, community colleges offer a variety of pre-college level courses often paired with academic and student services. The courses and services…

The emerging green economy will create not just jobs, but--if done right--career opportunities across the United States as green manufacturing, green products, and green services fuel demand for workers at all skill levels. Sixty-one percent of the members of the Association of Energy Engineers report a growing shortage of qualified professionals…

Economic opportunity, the force that has driven population shifts for years, is changing the face of migration as Hispanics move into parts of the nation beyond border states and traditional ports of entry. North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Indiana are experiencing a steady growth in Hispanic population. In addition, West Virginia, Ohio, and…

This report provides educators and policymakers with information they can use to celebrate their successes, understand their unique challenges, and set meaningful goals to increase opportunity for all students. It is important to note that while AP® Exams are valid measures of students' content mastery of college-level studies in specific academic…

This study explores professional development for school executives in a suburban school district in North Carolina. Survey research and descriptive statistics were utilized to capture demographic data and the perceptions of professional development opportunities in this setting. The knowledge level of each participant related to the school…

For a university service learning educational research project addressing Legionnaires' disease (LD), a Yes/No questionnaire on community awareness of LD was developed and distributed in an urban community in North Carolina, USA. The 456 questionnaires completed by the participants were sorted into yes and no sets based on responses obtained to…

This study evaluated attitudes toward interdisciplinary education by appraising the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) Certificate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a case study. Sixteen affiliated faculty and thirteen students enrolled in the IHC program as of 2008-2009 were surveyed. Although the attitude…

Ethnic minority students traditionally pursue degrees and careers in the food and agricultural sciences at rates lower than their non-minority counterparts. To help improve upon this situation, the Food and Agricultural Sciences Institute (FASI) was created to expose academically talented high school students to opportunities within the food and…

There are 54 million working adults in the United States without bachelor's degrees (Pusser et al., 2007). Many would like to obtain a college degree but need an educational program that fits their needs. A viable alternative to a traditional college program is an accelerated program in a cohort format. This article highlights best practices for…

It is a widely held belief that increased family involvement enhances student academic achievement. When considering children with special needs, involvement is not only beneficial; it is often an essential ingredient in a child's success. Families of children with special needs are often limited by time constraints that inhibit school…

This qualitative case study explores the political debate that surrounded North Carolina's House Bill 1183, also known as Access to Higher Education and A Better Economic Future. This bill would have made undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition at North Carolina's colleges and universities. This article discusses the political debate,…

Evaluating the impacts of public school funding on student achievement has been an important objective for informing education policymaking but fraught with data and methodological limitations. Findings from prior research have been mixed at best, leaving policymakers with little advice about the benefits of allocating public resources to schools…